Court-Martial Recommended for U.S. Soldier

[Judi Lynn]

Court-Martial Recommended for U.S. Soldier

By DIANA ELIAS
Associated Press Writer

November 1, 2005, 4:19 AM EST

CAMP ARIFJAN, Kuwait -- A U.S. military investigating officer recommended Tuesday that a National Guard soldier be court-martialed for murdering two of his superiors in Iraq in June.

Col. Patrick Reinert said he found "reasonable cause" to believe that Staff Sgt. Alberto B. Martinez, of Troy, New York, used an anti-personnel mine and three grenades to kill a captain and a lieutenant in a "personal vendetta."

The killing of Capt. Philip Esposito and Lt. Louis E. Allen in an explosion at a base near the central Iraqi city of Tikrit is believed to be first case of an American soldier in Iraq accused of killing his superiors.

Reinert said he also found aggravating factors that could allow for capital punishment.
(snip/...)

http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-kuwait-us-soldier,0,1867715.story?coll=sns-ap-nationworld-headlinesv

[obxhead]

1. Anyone have the links to prove this isn't the first?

I'm sure I've heard this story before. More or less anyway.

[jimshoes]

2. Very early on

at the beginning of the war, a soldier used a grenade against his own commanders. If memory serves, it was a muslim American soldier that threw a grenade into the tent of his superior. However it might have happened in Kuwait before the actual invasion. I don't have a link but it should be easily available in a web search.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2003/03/22/international0018EST0402.DTL

P.S.
Just a side note: After googling the above incident, the first three web sites to appear were by Michelle Malkin and Daniel Pipes???? Curious, No? The link here is to an AP article.